The Australian government, in an attempt to boost India’s skill base to over 400 million people by 2022, has initiated a $5.4-million International Skills Training Course.

Andrew Robb, special envoy for trade, Australia, recently held a meeting with Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Indian minister of skill development and entrepreneurship, and other industry and education sector leaders regarding education and training cooperation between the two nations.

Under this initiative, the Australian government is to provide Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to trainers in various industry sectors like management, engineering, health and well-being. The pilot project for this is already in operation in six states in India.

Robb said: “The programme involves imparting skills on a ‘training the trainer’ basis. We have a pilot programme running in different states over the last six to nine months. It will have a pyramid effect where you can quickly expand the number of trainers across India to meet the target of training 400 million people over the next few years and to do that nearly 400,000 to 500,000 trainers need to be skilled up.”

In consultation with the National Skill Development Corporation, the Australian government has developed three courses, namely TVET Trainer Course, TVET Assessor Course and TVET Advanced Trainer and Assessor Course.

Senator Richard Colbeck, minister for tourism and international education, Australia, said: “The initiative will see the Australian government collaborate with industry and the training sector to develop courses that address skill shortages within the global economy.”